Year 37 Volume 17 (Nov 05, 2018)

CLUB NEWS

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN … to make Christmas brighter for students at Century Elementary School and the victims of domestic violence at Gateway Domestic Violence Services. Make sure you have Saturday, December 1 on your calendar. That is the date for the club's holiday party and we will be shopping and wrapping Christmas gifts for Century Elementary students and bringing them the party at Prez Talee's home. Community Services Chair PP Darryl Harvey said the gift tags for the students will be distributed at next week's meeting. Darryl announced we will also be purchasing gift cards for Gateway this year. Gift cards from grocery stores are preferable but you can also purchase cards from discount retailers such as Target or Kohl's. To give Gateway flexibility in distributing the cards, it is suggested we purchase cards in $25 denominations … but purchase as many $25 cards as you feel called to do!! Please cards only, no cash!

OTHER DATES TO REMEMBER … Club board meeting: Thursday, November 15; The Ronald McDonald House: Tuesday, December 4 (see PP Betsy Jansen); State of the State (Denver SE Rotary, speaker inspired the movie Molly's Game): Thursday, December 13.

END POLIO NOW … N

ovember is Rotary Foundation Month and according to Foundation Chair PP Lloyd Gottman, the PolioPlus program began 30 years ago when Polio was present in 125 countries and when it spread to 1,000 new locations each day. Today Polio exists in only 3 countries: Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rotarians have helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against Polio in 122 countries! Last year, 400 million doses of the Polio vaccine were administered. Rotary, along with our partners, has reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide since the first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Your gift to the PolioPlus Fund of the Rotary Foundation will be matched 2 for 1 so a $100 donation becomes $300 and it is eligible for Paul Harris Society recognition! President Talee Crowe said it is the club's goal to give $1,500 to PolioPlus this year. How could there be a greater gift to recognize our weekly program speakers than the donation the club makes to PolioPlus in the speaker's name? This week Talee graciously presented the speaker, Debbie Stafford, with a certificate of the donation in her name to PolioPlus! Contact Lloyd if you have any questions concerning giving to the PolioPlus Fund.

SMOKY HILL ROTARVARIETY OF NEWS …

Unfortunately, The Ronald McDonald House declined the club's offer to purchase new cook tops so the funds will go elsewhere according to President Talee Crowe. Assistant Governor Kay Davis advises no one in any of the Aurora Clubs are registered to attend the District's Membership Workshop this Saturday, November 10 at Red Rocks Community College. As it goes … "If you don't vote, don't complain" and … "If you don't attend the Membership Workshop, don't complain".

The newly retired Sgt-at-Arms PP Jim Suss is back and left his heart in San Francisco but not a crumb of sour dough bread! Jim is still looking dapper in his suit and necktie and has gone from dealing cars to dealing lotto money. Seen here at the dealer's table with his back to the club, almost seemed like Jim was slipping something up the sleeves of his "relaxed fit" suit coat. Jim says retirement has been great so far and that the timing to deal lotto money with the timing of his retirement was a "fortunate" coincidence. NCIS rule #39: "There is no such thing as a coincidence" … Hmmm ...

WHO IS THE LORD OF THE PINS? … Most of us have a bunch of Rotary shirts/blouses but forget the threads, who has the hardware? The Editarian has eight (8) Rotary pins. Had a few more but some of the older Paul Harris pins have "disappeared". A couple of pins were inherited and Sgt. PP Jim Suss provided the new Rotary logo, rectangular pin. Proudest of the 2007-08 Past President pin on the left. There has to be

Smoky Hill Rotarians with a lot more than 8 pins. Tell me how many pins you have (4-way test applies) at a meeting or by email to: markayjohnson@comcast.net or by text/call 303-489-7933. If you prove worthy to be crowned as The Lord of the Pins, you will receive special recognition at a club meeting!

THIS WEEK'S THOUGHT … Despite all of our differences, love is what we all share. It's the great unifier - our one universal truth. That no matter who we are, where we come from, what we believe, we know this one thing, love is what we are doing right - the ability to love is the very best part of our humanity --- Denny Dean

THIS WEEK'S PROGRAM

PP Dave Maxwell introduced our speaker, Debbie Stafford. Debbie is a former state representative and is the Legislative Liasison and Faith Based Coordinator for the Aurora Mental Health Center. Depression and anxiety are the most common mental illnesses and they share similar signs and symtoms and often occur simultaneously. The word "commit" suicide is no longer used due to it's negative connotation. Instead the word "complete" suicide or took their life are used. There is a great need to normalize the stigma of mental illness. There are four types of mood disorders: major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder (the old term was manic depression), postpartum depression (both females and males can have this) and seasonal depression. There are many physical and behavioral signs and symtoms of depression including: fatigue, sleeping too much or too little, weight loss or gain, headaches, crying spells, loss of motivation and use of drugs and alcohol. There are also psycological signs and symtoms of depression: sadness, anxiety, guilt, anger, hopelessness, self-blame, impaired memory and concentration and thoughts of death and suicide.

Anxiety disorder differs from normal stress and anxiety, they are more severe and can impair daily life (i.e. work, relationships). About 18.1% of U.S. adults have anxiety disorder in any given year ranging from the most with specific phobias (8.7%) and social anxiety disorder (6.8%) to the least with ag

oraphobia (fear of going outdoors). The physical, behavioral and psychological signs and symtoms of anxiety include: cardiovascular (pounding heart, chest pain, etc.), respiratory (shortness of breath), gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting), neurological (headaches, dizziness), musculoskeletal (muscle aches, tremors), obsessive or compulsive behavior, excessive fear, anger, confusion and fatigue.

The risk factors for depression and anxiety include distressing and uncontrollable events, stressful or traumatic events, difficult childhoods, a history of childhood anxiety, a life threatening illness, recent childbirth, lack of exposure to bright light in the winter, a chemical imbalance and substance misuse.

The mental health first aid action plan: assess for risk of suicide or harm; listen nonjudgmentally, give reassurance and information, encourage appropriate professional help and encourage self-help and other support strategies. The most common crises to assess for is suicidal thoughts and behaviors and non-suicidal self-injury. In the suicide risk assessment look at the gender (male is higher risk), age (adolescents and elderly are higher risk), any chronic physical illnesses, mental illness, use of alcohol or drugs, less social support and a previous attempt. In the assessment ask directly whether the person is suicical: "Are you having thoughts of suicide?" or "Are you thinking about killing yourself?". If "yes" to either then ask the person if they have a plan as to how and when they plan to complete the suicide. At this point Debbie had the club go through a list of helpful and not helpful things to say to a person with symtoms of depression and/or anxiety. Among other things, let the person know you are concerned, willing to help, appear confident, do not express negative judgement and keep the person SAFE! [Note: Not an uplifting topic this week but it is one we must not ignore].

Duty Roster

SHRC Birthdays and Anniversaries

CLUB CALENDAR